Isran the Great

Isran took a moment to adjust to the bright sunlight Elysi had stopped a few feet away from the black wall, she was speaking to an old man in similar robes to her, he had a book floating behind him. A young woman was standing beside him. She had literal yellow hair and almost black skin, with pointy ears.

Isran thought it was dye as she approached but she noticed the yellow eyelashes and eyebrows the girl had. Isran wondered if she was some kind of fae.

Elysi handed the man a few coins and he handed her a small brown paper bag in return. The duo entered the dungeon immediately after.

As Isran got closer to Elysi, the sheep woman opened up the paper bag and pulled out round green balls, immediately tossing three of them into her mouth.

Isran didn’t ask any questions, she was too engrossed in the place they had entered. The land outside the dungeon had several archways with black walls littered around a dying valley. Low yellow grass as far as the eye could see only interrupted by said archways.

Elysi had said the dungeon they were in had been mapped out. Her wording had implied other dungeon but Isran hadn’t been thinking too hard on it.

They passed by two large groups of people as they walked, the first group was entering a dungeon as they passed, some on horses. The other group was a mismatch of different species and clothing. Isran didn’t stare long enough to count, she didn’t want to seem weird.

A memory popped up then, of hungry people forming lines in an environment thick with the smell of rotting corpses. She shook her head to clear it out. It felt like a detached memory and the longer she thought about the before of it the fuzzier it got.

She would live in the now.

“We should reach Kestin by nightfall.”

“Kestin?”

Elysi hummed. “The capital of Thalbrin.”

“Hmmm.” Isran still didn’t know what Thalbrin was and why they were going there. But at least she had an in-world tour guide. A sexy in-world tour guide. Isran blushed at the thought.

Their journey was rather boring. They didn’t speak much and met fewer people the longer they walked. When the sky started to turn a lighter shade of blue Isran spotted a bridge in the blurry distance.

“Do you need healing?”

“Huh?” They had been quiet for so long that Isran was startled to hear Elysi’s voice.

“Yeah, I do.”

“And do you have money?”

Isran frowned did she have money? She remembered the coins that she had looted from the first dead body she had come across.

“About twenty silver coins, they have acorns on them.”

Elysi stopped walking, prompting Isran to do the same. “Silver coins with acorns on them... did you just wake up with those?” Elysi looked Isran up and down skeptically.

Isran was made acutely aware of her shabby clothing. “Uh... no. I took them from some dead guy. The tent too.”

Elysi narrowed her eyes and took half a step back. “Really?”

Isran frowned. She didn’t understand where Elysi’s hostility was coming from. “I mean yeah, I found him and his stuff and just grabbed them.”

“Did he have a crest of any kind on his clothing?”

Isran shrugged. “I don’t remember but I don’t think so.”

Elysi glanced at the bags slung over Isran’s taller form.

“Don’t tell anyone where you got those coins. If they ask it was dungeon loot.”

“Dungeon loot?”

Elysi nodded firmly. “Just say dungeon loot.”

“I found maps too.” It was only after seeing the scolding look on Elysi’s face that Isran realized her error.

“We’ll talk about this when we get to Kestin. Until then what did I say?”

Isran gulped lightly as she spoke, the way Elysi as talking to her was kinda hot. “Dungeon loot.”

It didn’t take long before they reached the bridge. Isran noted that the space beneath the bridge was not a river or a moat. It was the sea. She could see the expansive blue when she turned her head, a few cliffs partially obscuring her view.

Two human men stood in front of the bridge. They were dressed in clothing that reminded Isran of templar knights, but instead of a cross there was circle.

“Identification.”

Elysi stepped up to the guard and let him stare intently at her forehead. It was weird and lasted a few long seconds. When she was done the guard waved at Isran to come closer.

Isran noticed that the guard was a bit shorter than her. He tilted his head up and repeated the process. When he was done he waved her away. Isran felt nothing except awkward from the experience.

The other end of the bridge had the same procedure. Isran thought the process was a bit overkill but she noted that they didn’t check her bags.

Once they were a few feet away from the bridge Isran spoke up. “Where are we going?”

Elysi didn’t stop as she answered. “We’ll rest in a religious district close by and leave for Kestin tomorrow. It seems I wrongly estimated our arrival time.”

They spent much less time getting to the religious district than Isran had anticipated. The road there was clearly marked for pedestrian use, the same dead looking yellow fields stretched around. There were also a lot more people the farther they got from the bridge.

They didn’t stop to speak to any of them but Isran noticed that they walked slower once they were passed the bridge.

The religious district was a small town. It had two towering buildings a little distance away and several smaller buildings surrounding them. Or at least that was what Isran could see from outside the towering gates. The city sat in the middle of the road, it was clear to continue on elsewhere passing through the religious district was necessary.

The security in front of the religious district was very much different than that of the bridge. The soldiers wore the same amour but had a symbol on theirs. It was a symbol of the sun, the rays were not drawn on the bottom and the sun was red.

The gates were open and a slow line of people both exited and entered the town... or maybe city was a better qualifier.

Isran almost chuckled when she spotted actual dwarves, their short forms and long braided beards tickled her memories of fantasy stories. There were more of the black skinned fae and their colorful hair. A few tall people with grey skin, and people with random animal traits like Elysi.

Isran noticed a group of tiger people and a man she assumed was a cow man. There were also very short people. Shorter than some of the dwarves she saw. They had large rounded noses but other than that seemed to be short humans proportional for their size.

They finally reached the front of their line as the sun was almost gone from the sky.

After the standard staring at her forehead the guard spoke to Elysi. “Purpose for visit.”

“Healing, a single night stay, and passage to Kestin.”

The guard hummed and scribbled in a booklet.

“I’m with the tall pale woman with the shield.”

The guard glanced up at Isran and nodded. He tore two sheets from his booklet and handed them to Elysi before staring at Isran’s forehead as well.

“Enjoy your stay.”

Isran smiled at the man and was a bit happy when he smiled back.